


Psychiatric?

by FyrdracaElfsciene



Series: We Meet Again [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-13
Updated: 2014-02-13
Packaged: 2018-01-12 05:39:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1182552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FyrdracaElfsciene/pseuds/FyrdracaElfsciene
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Years after the death of Doran Smith, the Metacrisis Doctor, the Head Director of Torchwood sends Rose to the psychiatry department of Torchwood after she disappears for a month. But why does the psychiatrist seem familiar and know more than he should?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Psychiatric?

Rose Tyler strutted down the corridors of Torchwood Two, her shoulders back and her strides long. All in all, she was the picture of confidence. If someone didn't know her, they would have thought her to be overconfident. To the people of Torchwood, however, it was practically underconfidence.

Rose nodded at her colleagues as she walked past. She recognized most of them and could probably recite their names better than the Torchwood protocols. She saw Martha Smith, Kate Stewart, Johnny Chester, Aoife Simmonds, and her younger brother's wife, Adele Price-Tyler. They had all been on her team at one point, but they had been transferred. Rose was beginning to feel like the Doctor with all the friends that had left her.

The Doctor. He had left her without a goodbye, leaving her only with a clone who eventually became known as Doran Smith. Doran had quickly earned the respect of all the people in Torchwood, and, like Rose, ascended through the ranks as if on fire. He had been placed in charge of Torchwood Three. Once a month, the Directors of the Torchwood met in London: Mickey Smith II— Torchwood One, Rose — Torchwood Two, Doran — Torchwood Three, Sarai Jovanka — Torchwood Four, Tony Tyler — Torchwood Five, and the Head Director of Torchwood. Doran and Rose married five years after they were abandoned by the Doctor. Ten years after that, when Rose was thirty-seven, Doran had died in one of the meetings; he had just keeled over. His mind and body had always had troubles working together, but they had suddenly both failed, and Doran died.

After that, Rose had insisted on being called "Rose Tyler" again, but out of respect for the late Doran Smith, most people still called her "Rose Smith". Rose Tyler had also become reckless, and after most missions, she disappeared for days.

Rose was ousted from her reverie when she almost literally ran into the Head Director. "Sorry," Rose mumbled, moving to get out of the Head's way.

"Not so fast, Smith," the Head scolded, his lips pursed. Rose, who had made it a full five paces before being stopped, sighed exaggeratedly and turned around.

Her voice amplified the slight aggravation she was feeling. "What? What is it?"

"Smith," the Head Director started again. "You disappeared for a month right after the latest alien invasion. You were assumed dead." The Head Director glowered at Rose, who in turn grinned cheekily.

"A fifth death certificate for me to burn, I take it," Rose stated, her grin not faltering for even a second. She stretched out her hand for the slip of paper.

The Head Director's frown increased, if that were even possible. With the trouble Rose had caused, even as Director, the man looked too old for his forty-one years. "Smith, you can't keep doing this! One day, you're going to die, and we'll keep holding out, and Torchwood Two will fall!"

Rose rolled her eyes; the Head Director was always exaggerating things like that when it came to her. It was quite irritating, really. "It would not, and you know it. Now, the certificate, please?"

The Head Director nodded and sighed. What else could he do? "Fine, but I'm ordering you to report to psychiatric immediately. You understand, Smith?"

Rose rolled her eyes dramatically before nodding in a way that was also oddly dramatic. "The certificate?"

"Oh, right," the Head Director stated, rifling through his pocket before handing Rose a sheet of paper.

Rose took it eagerly and started her journey towards psychiatric. Her journey was anything but fast. She took the longest route she could, stopping by many of her colleagues' offices and cubicles. An hour had probably passed by the time she actually arrived in psychiatric.

Rose kicked the door open. She had absolutely no desire to be here any longer than she had to be. "So, hi." She tried to keep the irritation out of her voice, but she failed miserably if the psychiatrist's flinch was anything to go by. "And can we bloody well get this over with so we can both get on our own merry ways?"

"If we want to," the psychiatrist retorted, his non-existent eyebrows sliding up his forehead. Rose rolled her eyes even though she found the odd man in tweed somewhat amusing.

"Someone's new," Rose muttered, examining her hands absently, leaning back in the chair she had sat down on. The psychiatrist opened his mouth to ask why she thought that when Rose held up a hand. "You didn't get to business right away."

"Right," the psychiatrist agreed, sounding mildly disappointed. Rose couldn't fathom why yet. "Business. Why do you keep pretending to be dead, Rose Ty — Smith?"

Rose mouthed the words along with him, earning her a mock glare. She almost laughed. But then came her name. No one called her Rose Tyler. No one almost called her Rose Tyler, not since she and Doran had married, even though she was technically Tyler now. Rose's eyebrows drifted upwards in her surprise. Finally, she regained her wits. "Funny answer or long answer? Not that it really matters; I am mildly brilliant."

The psychiatrist had either the courage or the stupidity to laugh, which caused Rose to glare at him irritably. The psychiatrist squirmed after two or three minutes of the glare, at which point the glare turned into a self-satisfied smirk.

"You got a Nestene Consciousness to help you," the psychiatrist pointed out quirking one of the places an eyebrow probably should have been. Rose bit her lip at that semi-unexpected comment. There was no way a psychiatrist should know that,.

Rose tilted her head, pursing her full lips. She shook her head slightly as she did that, narrowing her eyes. "Yeah, so, your point?"

The psychiatrist was just a bit staggered by Rose's newfound belligerence. Or, newfound to him. The belligerence wasn't exactly a new issue as it had started a couple years back with Doran's death.

"You," the psychiatrist drawled, brushing his floppy golden-brown hair out of his face, "are brilliant!" Nevertheless, his eyes were drawn to a small box on Rose's waist.

Rose grinned, her tongue brushing her teeth. she tucked a little bit of her shoulder-length hair behind her ear. "Why, thank you, Doctor!"

The Doctor floundered for a second before he managed to regain control of his thoughts. She was even more brilliant than he remembered, and he remembered her as the most brilliant woman he had ever known. "How did you know?"

Rose laughed, the sound truly happy, happier than it had been for ages. "First off, you didn't get right to business, suggesting you have a gob. No one has a bigger gob than you. Second, you retorted. I'm the Director of Torchwood Two; no one talks back to me. No one, except for you. Thridly, no one calls me Rose Tyler, either, and you almost did that. You're either out of touch with reality — which you probably are — or you only knew me before. Number four, only the Doctor would think tweed and bowties are fashionable; they went out of style years back. Five, you knew that it was a Nestene Consciousness, but Torchwood never had a run-in with those, but you wouldn't know that, would you? And, for a sixth, you are eying the perception filter that no one should notice. That means that you are not human and suspect that I'm not all I seem. Should I continue?" Rose shook her head at the Doctor's gape. Trust him to think one thing and then be surprised when it was proved to him.

When the Doctor finally came to his sense from his profound astoundment, he blinked slowly, checking that he was no longer stunned. He closed his mouth. "No, no need." The Doctor blushed faintly, creating an odd effect on his waxy skin. Why was his voice coming out as a squeak?

"So I suppose you'll want to figure out where I was for the last month or so?" Rose grinned, her eyes twinkling with joy that had been absent from them for far too long.

"Well, taking off the perception filter would be better, actually." The Doctor's voice was kind, but it also held a warning, telling her she had better remove the perception filter or else.

Sighing through her nose, Rose pressed the button on the box. The effect was instantaneous. Instead of her bleached blonde hair, Rose had brownish amber hair that zigzagged down to just below her elbows. Instead of her hazel eyes, Rose had almond-shaped green eyes. She was also taller, coming up to 5'8", and she was also thinner. Her face was also longer than before, more of an oval than a triangle.

She carefully evaluated the Doctor's face as the shock set in for the second or third time that day. "Th-that explains the perception filter."

"Yeah, and Bad Wolf explains the change. I'm a Time Lady now." Rose grinned, her grin still the same as it had been before, a fact that greatly relieved the Doctor. "Also, it's been about a year for me, not a month. I was a bit bored due to paperwork, so I invented time-travel for my own use only." Rose's grin widened, and she looked at the Doctor's face, which, if possible, had become even more stunned. "The year was spent on Mars."

Finally, the Doctor permitted his stunned face to go back to normal, at which point he shook his head. "Does you mother know?"

"She died from cancer ten years back. I don't want to know what she'd say if she were still around." Rose's voice was more subdued, and she stared at the ground as her smile slipped away just a bit. She rubbed her cheek.

The Doctor smirked before remembering that Rose had said Jackie had died. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Rose replied, staring at the Doctor's face as if to memorize it."Doran Smith, the metacrisis, he died years back as well." Rose grimaced, watching the Doctor carefully.

The Doctor flinched, staring at the desk. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." He chanced raising his green eyes to meet Rose's. Careful not to get his hopes up, the Doctor chanced an important question. "Will you come back with me?"

Rose's grin spread itself back across her face. She reached out and took the Doctor's hand in her own. "Always, Doctor. Always and forever."


End file.
